Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 281
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[Page 281]
not have walked into a slenderly baited trap like us. Meanwhile the Admiralty argued with the American authorities to endeavour to persuade them to intern the Farn, and finally, after three or four days of utter boredom for us, this was agreed to. One wag on shore ironically signalled to the ship that we had been made honorary members of the Club, knowing full well that we should never go in.
From San Juan we sailed east for the Lesser Antilles, and arrived after two days at Port Castries in St. Lucia. St. Lucia is a tiny isalnd, just a dot on the map, but like its bigger sisters in the Indies it is surpassingly beautiful. Green and fertile, with rugged slopes, it is a picture from the sea; but here as elsewhere the picture fades when one sees the squalid dwellings of the negro population. The people apparently had not been warned of our arrival, and when a four-funnelled man-o'-war appeared at sea a panic set in. Shops were shut up, money and valuables buried, and the military forces paraded. The fear of the Karlsruhe was in the hearts of all. Imagine the joy of the islanders when the white ensign was descried. We had a royal welcome, for in addition to the feeling of safety which the presence of a man-o'-war engendered, we meant work and money for the large part of the population which depends on casual waterside labour for a living. As one expressed it, "We would have to eat one anudder" if it were not for the ships. When we arrived there for the first time the place was undefended. The guns which used to protect the town and harbour had been dismantled and removed, and the garrison withdrawn. The